'Bout time I joined the blogging world, again, eh?

Here's a few Snippets for you.  Enjoy!



      A little while later, after showing nearly the whole ship to the thorough Aktaran, they passed the king's quarters.  The Ishadi captain stopped and inquired about this door.  Rydan was mad with impatience, though he managed to keep his calm.  They had lost two valuable hours of sailing time--two precious hours which could have brought them all the more closer to Gondoa by now.
      "Oh, that?" Marcus sighed, rubbing a hand across his face. "I hate t' tell ye this, m' friend, but that be a door."
[SAFIA; aboard the Gondian ship, Victory's Crown]

      "Are you saying your sisters are spoiled?" Jok whistled and laughed again.  "Wait until they hear what their puffed-up brother thinks of them!"
      "Come on, Jok.  I didn't say that!  Safia's different somehow.  I--" Rydan stopped himself and began pointing a finger at the older man.  "No.  No, sir.  I see what you are doing.  You're trying to get me riled up in order to confess my feelings, if any.  Ha!  I saw through your devious plan, you like these debates!"  Rydan cupped his hands behind his head and leaned back in his chair, placing his boots atop the table.  "Well, sir, it won't work.  Not this time."
      Again, Jok chuckled and picked up a book he had set aside.
      "And I'm not puffed-up."
      They were silent.  If possible, you could have heard Jok's smile.
[SAFIA; aboard the Crown]

      "What she saw?"  The woman's face contorted into anger. "What was to see?  Nothing!  He was a brute, a monster.  Headstrong, stubborn, violent--unfit for my daughter!"
      "He had changed!" Safia's voice rose a notch in volume.  "He discovered a future, a new life.  Because of your daughter!  He forsook his past and pursued a life of honesty.  We--"
      "Honesty!" Meline scoffed.
      "Mother," Gabriella began, distressed, wary about the direction in which this conversation was headed.
      "Silence, daughter!" The mistress snapped and turned back to her granddaughter. "He was a pirate, they do not know the meaning of such a word.  A pirate will speak boldly before you of honesty while lying in their teeth!  They always know the right thing to say, the best way to make the most profit--all without a single care for the others to whom their deeds may harm.  Blackhearted fools, that's what they are.  He--your father--was just like them!  He had no heart!"
      "YOU DIDN'T KNOW HIM!"
      At the outburst, the older woman sat abruptly in her chair, wide-eyed, as if pushed by the strength of the girl's voice.  The small parlor was quiet as the last echo of Safia's words died away.  The girl, herself, stood rigid, feet apart and hands clenched.  Her face was down-turned and her hair fell as a shield before her eyes.
      It was deathly silent.  The air thick with tension.
      Then a soft voice broke the dark quiet.
      "You did not take the time to know him. . . You were not the one to be swallowed up in his arms as a little girl and feel that nothing in the world could harm you.  You never heard his laughter, rich and full, and join in even though you did not know the reason.  You didn't watch him sweep her off her feet to dance on the white sands in the moonlight or hear the deep, baritone of his voice as he sang you to sleep. . .
      "You did not hear the screams that night.  You were not present to watch as he bore the limp body of his wife to shore.  Nor were you there to hear as he cried to Eliadan for mercy, to take his life instead of hers. . .  You didn't watch helplessly from a distance as he cradled her in his arms or witness as he laid her beneath those beautiful white sands."  Safia paused, aware of the tears running down her face, yet unashamed.
      "You call him a pirate, well, at one time that was true.  But no longer.  He died a cherished father, a brave captain, a worthy friend, a hero.  You think of me as his daughter, but forget that I am also the daughter of your own precious girl.  A pirate?  Maybe.  But as for her, my mother, Faina Belle Rouseau Leifson, she was his greatest treasure."
[SAFIA; before the Mistress Rouseau, her grandmother]

"Prayers can win wars, love, but they are only as strong as your belief."
[Faina Leifson, SAFIA]

      She wanted to pray.  But she did not feel like talking to Eliadan.  She would never admit it aloud, but it felt like He had abandoned her.
      Tears fell.
[SAFIA]

      "Eliadan?"  Safia could feel the panic rising.  The scene around her was fading, yet she could still feel His embrace.  His rich voice spoke in her ear and reverberated in the corners of her mind, instantly soothing her tired heart."
      Hold fast, dear one.  I will never let you go.
[SAFIA, unknown chapter]